Hands On: HP TouchPad for AT&T

What could goose the fortunes of HP's TouchPad tablet? How about official support from AT&T? The nation's biggest GSM carrier showed off a version of the TouchPad gussied up with a 1.5-Ghz processor and HSPA+ support at a Tuesday evening event.

The AT&T TouchPad works much like the Wi-Fi-only model we reviewed, which we called the best non-iPad tablet. It has a few differences. There's a SIM card slot in the top: push on it and the SIM tray pops out. Similarly, there's an HSPA+ signal indicator in the status bar, and a new AT&T Communication Manager app with a long, skinny progress bar showing how close you're coming to your data cap for the month. (See them in the slideshow below.)

The 1.5-Ghz processor should give this TouchPad a boost over the Wi-Fi-only model's 1.2-Ghz unit, but sadly, I found this TouchPad to have some of the problems many people have cited elsewhere. In the hands of Ovum analyst Jan Dawson, the TouchPad's scrolling juddered and it took a noticeable while to render our PCMag.com home page.

Performance will be significantly improved by a software update coming within a few weeks, our HP demonstrator said.

The new model also has 32GB of internal storage and built-in GPS, which should enable driving applications that the original, GPS-less TouchPad can't pull off. AT&T claims the tablet is "4G," by which they mean HSPA+ 21, not the carrier's upcoming LTE network. In our Fastest Mobile Networks tests this year, we found T-Mobile's HSPA+ 21 network to be the second-fastest after Verizon's LTE system; AT&T hadn't turned on much HSPA+ 21 around the country when we tested in May.

AT&T seems committed to giving WebOS a chance. AT&T emerging devices vice president David Haight said that he thought there was room for a third player beyond iOS and Android in the tablet space. AT&T seems to have voted against the BlackBerry Playbook for now, so that leaves WebOS. AT&T is so far the only U.S. carrier to sell the HP Veer, the most recent (deeply flawed) WebOS phone. So far HP's flagship phone, the Pre 3, is totally missing in action, with no carrier admitting it will sell the device.

HP and AT&T didn't give a price or release date for the new TouchPad, except to say it's coming out by the "back to school" time.

PCMag.com's lead mobile analyst, Sascha Segan, has reviewed hundreds of smartphones, tablets and other gadgets in more than 9 years with PCMag. He's the head of our Fastest Mobile Networks project, one of the hosts of the daily PCMag Live Web show and speaks frequently in mass media on cell-phone-related issues. His commentary has appeared on ABC, the BBC, the CBC, CNBC, CNN, Fox News, and in newspapers from San Antonio, Texas to Edmonton, Alberta.
Segan is also a multiple award-winning travel writer, having contributed...
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